Patriot Rail Corp. Completes Its Third Railroad Acquisition With Purchase of Utah Central Railway

BOCA RATON, Fla. — Patriot Rail Corp. has purchased the purchase of the Utah Central Railway, a short line freight railroad headquartered in Ogden, Utah.

This is the third railroad acquisition for Patriot, which now owns and leases a total of 246 miles of rail line in Tennessee, Alabama, Montana and Utah.

UCRY operates 34 miles of owned and leased rail line in and around Ogden, Utah. The railroad was established as a short line rail operator in 1995 on former Union Pacific Railroad track.

UCRY, which interchanges traffic with Class I carriers Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Railroad at Ogden, handled approximately 8,500 carloads in 2007. The railroad has 17 non-union employees and operates 5 locomotives. Commodities shipped by UCRY include sugar, asphalt, lumber, plastic, steel, LP gas, fuel, grain and chemicals.

Major customers include Scoular Company, Horizon Milling, SemMaterials, Metalwest, Brenntag Pacific, Inc., Kenco Group, Kellerstrass Oil Co., Amalgamated Sugar and Western Zirconium. UCRY also has a long-term lease to provide exclusive rail switching services at Business Depot Ogden, a large industrial park.

“We are pleased to have the Utah Central Railway join the Patriot Rail family of railroads,” said Gary O. Marino, Chairman, President and CEO of Patriot Rail Corp. “This railroad is a great addition to our portfolio as it fits our strategy of acquiring lines that have a solid customer base and can realize significant growth with the infusion of new capital and management by Patriot.

“With the demand for quality rail service in the north-central Utah region growing, combined with access to two Class I partners, UCRY will be able to capitalize on a number of new business opportunities that were not available previously,” Marino said.

— Business Wire

Railfanning Review Podcast

Before you copy and paste this information to your website, please keep in mind this research took a lot of effort. Appreciate it. Learn from it. But do not plagiarize it. Yes, if you think we might be talking to you, we are.